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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Scattering of atoms by coherent interaction with light

V. A. Grinchuk, A. P. Kazantsev, Gregory I. Surdutovich, Valery P. Yakovlev, E. F. Kuzin, M. L. Nagaeva, G. A. Ryabenko

Published Nov 1, 1985• 14 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A theoretical and experimental study is presented of the effect of stimulated radiation pressure (SRP) under the conditions of strong saturation of the resonance transition when the interaction times between the atom and the field are short (shorter than the radiative lifetime). An experimental method for studying the scattering of an atomic beam by the field of a standing light wave is described. The measured dependence of the scattering efficiency on the electric field and the detuning from resonance are reported. Experimental relationships are compared with theoretical calculations based on the quasi-classical description of the motion of atoms in the field of a light wave, using an effective potential. It is shown that the efficiency of scattering of atoms by SRP forces is of the order of unity in relatively weak (100–1000-V/cm) laser fields.

DOI
10.1364/josab.2.001805

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A theoretical and experimental study is presented of the effect of stimulated radiation pressure (SRP) under the conditions of strong saturation of the resonance transition when the interaction times between the atom and the field are short (shorter than the radiative lifetime). An experimental method for studying the scattering of an atomic beam by the field of a standing light wave is described. The measured dependence of the scattering efficiency on the electric field and the detuning from resonance are reported. Experimental relationships are compared with theoretical calculations based on the quasi-classical description of the motion of atoms in the field of a light wave, using an effective potential. It is shown that the efficiency of scattering of atoms by SRP forces is of the order of unity in relatively weak (100–1000-V/cm) laser fields.
The influence of the resonance light pressure on the motion of atoms and molecules is studied. A kinetic equation has been obtained describing the action on particles of both the mean force of light pressure and its fluctuations. The forces that are considered are due to spontaneous and stimulated transitions and also to a certain combination thereof. The kinetic equation is used to describe the scattering of atoms in conditions close to the experimental ones [16]. The temperature of atoms cooled in a standing wave with the aid of the force of light pressure of the combined type has also been found.
In this paper we present some new results concerning the observed anomalous frequency properties of the process of the neutral atom scattering in the standing light wave field near the reflecting mirror. The investigations were carried out using the method of scattering of the sodium atomic strip beam, intersecting at right angle the region of the standing light wave field. The standing light wave field was formed by two counterpropagating waves of resonant laser radiation -- incident and reflected from the mirror, mounted at a distance of about 1 cm from the atomic beam. The coherence length of the laser radiation was about 10 cm, that's why the interaction of atoms with the field of two counterpropagating light waves was coherent. The width of the strip atomic beam (a equals 0.02 cm) was much less than the distance to the mirror. The specific feature of the given setup is the use of pulsed laser radiation with the duration (tau) less than 1/(gamma) ((gamma) -1- the time of resonant level spontaneous decay), so the atoms are scattered only due to the induced light pressure force. In this paper the detailed investigation of the distance R influence on the scattering process was carried out. With this purpose the mirror was mounted at different distances from the atomic beam. (truncated)
The scattering of neutral sodium atoms by a strong field of two counterpropagating (incident on and reflected from a mirror) short laser pulses was used in an experimental investigation of a stimulated radiation pressure. The reasons for the anomalous frequency structure in the scattering of atoms were identified. The oscillatory nature of the dependence of the scattering on the detuning from resonance was found to be significant in strong laser radiation fields. The oscillation period depended on the distance between the reflecting mirror and the atomic beam.
This paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical investigations on the control of atomic beam motion by light pressure of laser radiation. Collimation, focusing, and compression of an atomic beam are considered. Collimation of an atomic beam was achieved under the interaction of laser radiation with atoms when the light pressure force depended only on the atoms’ velocity. A similar regime of atomic beam interaction with radiation was performed under transversal irradiation of a beam by the axisymmetric field. The latter was formed by laser radiation reflected from the conical mirror surface of a reflecting axicon. The axis of an atomic beam coincided with that of the axicon. The collimation regime was reached under negative detuning of the laser radiation frequency from that of the atomic transition one by a value equal to a few homogeneous widths. Under positive detuning by the same value beam decollimation was observed.
The interaction of a beam of two level atoms with a standing wave laser field has been the subject of extensive investigation in recent times. A standing wave perpendicular to an atomic beam allows the manipulation of the transverse velocity distribution. The interaction of an atomic beam with a strong standing wave laser field has been systematically investigated by both theoretical simulation and experiment in this thesis. We have developed a numerical model based on a continued fraction solution for the light pressure forces to simulate the near perpendicular interaction of an atomic beam with a strong standing wave laser field. The reshaping of the transverse spatial profile of an atomic beam by a perpendicular, near resonant, standing wave laser field is investigated for red detunings using a longitudinal velocity selective detection system. The experimental dependence of the reshaped profile on the longitudinal and transverse atomic velocities agrees well with a continued fraction solution for the light force. In particular, a regime is found where channelling of the atoms near the antinodes of the standing wave produces a central peak in the spatial distribution of the atomic beam in the far field which have also been observed elsewhere.
The use of resonant radiation pressure produced by an axisymmetric light field for collimating atomic beams is considered. As an example the possibility is examined of collimating an atomic beam by the light field created by reflecting a plane wave from the inner surface of a metal cone. It is shown that radiation pressure makes it possible to reduce the transverse velocities of an atomic beam to values of order 100 cm/s, which corresponds to an effective temperature on the order of 0.001 K. A method for obtaining collimated beams of cold atoms that is based on combined slowing-down and collimation of atom beams in response to the pressure of resonant laser radiation is examined. 16 references.